Sun > Status Update

QuietlyKat wrote: "So much so, I just bought Shattered Glass. Thank you for putting yourself out there."

Oh man, well, I always say, if you hate it, try not to aim the ereader at my face. Its' all I got left of my youth XD. But I do hope you enjoy it. Thank you for your kind words.

Lucy wrote: "It’s a bit personal for me because I have developed a friendship with Jenn and I know it was extremely difficult for her to open up. ."

I know what you mean. I've had the kind of in depth conversations with Sonny that you have had with Jenn. Maybe you can see where I'm coming from?

Lucy wrote: "it might be the silver lining that some people still hold hope this person isn’t purely deceitful. "

I'm not sure what I believe. The twitter feed is really compelling. I just also don't think I much care that he pretended to be a guy if that's what he did. (note how I use the pronoun he chose, this is cuz i'm trans) I do, as I said above, care if he solicited donations or gifts for a fake illness. People lie. Most lies don't hurt people. If this is a lie, then it hurt a lot of people and they deserve to be heard and to express their anger without fear of retribution.

But, I don't have the voice in this community i once had. In the end, what I say doesn't matter much. I hope it mattered a little though.

QuietlyKat wrote: "Dani wrote: "I am sad right now. I didn't want to speak out about a friend even one whose done some terrible things, it appears. But people should be listening to victims. That's really really impo..."

Oh I loved that story it's adorable. I hope you enjoy it too.

Dani wrote: "I can only be honest. So that's what I'm gonna do. ..."

Thanks, Dani. I followed some of your exchange on twitter. One thing that struck me both with Jenn's post and your tweets is how you feel badly for some of the things you said. How brave it was for both of you to admit to past interactions and behavior.

I want to put out there for anyone and everyone that yes, there are a lot of apologies that can be said to each other.

I was a HORRIFIC person when I was in SH's "trust". I barely recognize myself when I see how I spoke about people: authors, readers, even people I called friends. I don't deny that, and I take full responsibility. It was this shame that had me hold my tongue for so long. Even when proof started showing up on twitter about SH, I kept quiet. I didn't want anything to do with him or to be sucked back into his world.

And now I cringe every time I hear about things he said about me behind closed doors. It's embarrassing as more and more of this stuff comes out. Two years ago, this would have had me in the fetal position in the corner. But, now, thanks to getting a better understanding of what GASLIGHTING is, and also hearing everyone else's stories, I am able to forgive myself and to shake it off a little better.

So maybe all of us who ever were dragged into SH's trash can do a blanket apology to each other, and to anyone we hurt while in conversations w/ him. And hopefully we can forgive one another, heal, and move forward.

And, Dani, if your ability to forgive includes SH, there is no shame in that. We each are walking our own roads with this whole fiasco.

All I can say is wow! I was a huge fan. I have all of his books/audiobook. I always leave reviews because I know it helps the author out. I noticed post awhile ago about haters and people wanting to take him down and I 💯% supported / defended him. But I kept seeing these post about haters and people wanting to take him down and I got curious. I turned to Twitter. I don’t believe everything I read, I take everything with a grain of salt . I saw someone shared a link to this discussion so people who were curious could read about it. I commented and said can you send me the link. That’s it nothing else. I noticed in a few comments people said they were being blocked so I went to see if I was and sure enough I was blocked for asking for this link! 🤔🤔 really! That’s a huge red flag. I don’t care if he’s married, I don’t care if he’s not bi, I really don’t care if his wife is the writer. I think whoever is the writer is extremely talented! What I don’t like is all the lying, blocking bullying. So not cool! The truth always comes out.

Hi, me again. I’ve had a migraine all day, so I haven’t been keeping up. I wrote that post because I had lost my voice for years to speak up, and I had been trapped by fear and shame. But...and this important, I’m OK, guys. Truly. I’m 1000000% in a better place in my life. I’ve got great things to look forward to, and I’m settled. Also as soon as I got him and ppl around him out of my orbit, I was just...happier. A better, kinder person.

I unblocked on Twitter pretty much everyone because I’m ready to forgive people and maybe (if me & other person are both willing) to mend and move forward. I haven’t responded to some ppl yet, but I plan to. Just give me some time.

*********

That being said: Santino is still trash who lied about cancer, fake kids, fake roommate, fake other trauma (if you knew, you’d be disgusted), and basically everything in his life. He hurt and manipulated, and I’m ready to focus on this and his bullshit deflections.

Susan wrote: “So maybe all of us who ever were dragged into SH's trash can do a blanket apology to each other, and to anyone we hurt while in conversations w/ him. And hopefully we can forgive one another, heal, and move forward.

And, Dani, if your ability to forgive includes SH, there is no shame in that. We each are walking our own roads with this whole fiasco..”

Jenn wrote: “I unblocked on Twitter pretty much everyone because I’m ready to forgive people and maybe (if me & other person are both willing) to mend and move forward.”

I have to say it again, I admire the hell out of all the people who are courageously coming forward with their stories, supporting each other while maintaining their principles and integrity. And especially those who are able to respect and be kind to each other even if their ability and readiness to forgive or their anger, hurt and indignation don’t align. Y’all making me tear up and my heart swell <3

Has anyone thought about doing a mass inquiry to Riptide on behalf of those that have bought their books? If they get enough people threatening to boycott their books, hopefully they'd consider their other authors before staying quiet or defending one that lies. He is now going on any facebook post with his name and defending himself saying that he never said he had cancer, that it was a hernia. It probably was a hernia, but cancer opens the hearts and wallets easier, right? :( I don't doubt that he "didn't ask for money" but when you put your story out to people who love you and want the best for you, and you accept that money knowing it was false, then you're just as much to blame. I'm just disgusted with this "man" and his prideful asshole attitude.

Ben wrote: "Has anyone thought about doing a mass inquiry to Riptide on behalf of those that have bought their books? If they get enough people threatening to boycott their books, hopefully they'd consider the..."

Too bad there are actual screenshots of him accepting condolences for having cancer. Pathological liars can't keep the stories straight, and they'll denial even in the face of overwhelming evidence.

~✡~Dαni(ela) ♥ ♂♂ love & semi-colons~✡~ wrote: "Ben wrote: "Has anyone thought about doing a mass inquiry to Riptide on behalf of those that have bought their books? If they get enough people threatening to boycott their books, hopefully they'd ..."
I've seen screenshots for him saying he does have cancer and chemo treatment, along with his partean being used for his overwhelming medical bills from all his "treatments" but now he's claiming it was a hernia lol even though it clearly said CANCER. Someone confronted him today with a screenshot, and he went around it and then just said "he's done discussing this." Nice, Eh? But you're right.... sad but true.

He's also claiming the $2000.00 was for a home warming gift.

There are screenshots of pretty much everything he’s trying to deny and even then, he won’t admit it. Like Daniela said he’ll keep lying even in face of overwhelming evidence. Lying and deflecting with “warnings” of lawsuits or “I’m not talking about this anymore”. Right. Sure, Jan.

My personal experience with him is pretty much the same as others who already shared here. Just like Susan, I am deeply ashamed of my behavior when I was his friend. I don’t recognize that person when I go through my private chats with him. I’m taking full responsibility for that, but also, I can see now how he manipulated me into saying things that I didn’t honestly meant.

He is not a good person. Really. He’s manipulative, he’s a liar and it’s my belief that he’s mean to his core. He played women against women and created an environment of fear and distrust so he could control everyone and everything. He has said things to me that I am ashamed of showing. Not because of me, but because they are so ugly that I’m afraid the person he was talking about, might not recover from it.

I guess my point is, besides the lies about being who he is, besides the lies about having cancer, and all the other lies, even if ppl could somehow get past that, try to remember this: he is not a good person.

Monica wrote: "There are screenshots of pretty much everything he’s trying to deny and even then, he won’t admit it. Like Daniela said he’ll keep lying even in face of overwhelming evidence. Lying and deflecting ..."

I'm really sorry that Jenn, Susan and you had to go through this. At first, I just thought this was all about scamming the community in order to keep the gravy train going. Now I see it goes a lot deeper than that. You don't have to go after people, hurt them, bully or gaslight them in order to sell books. That is sociopathic behavior. The more people who speak out and tell their stories take back their power and lessen his/hers/theirs.

I'm so sorry so many people have been damaged by this. I pray for healing for everyone except of course person who started this mess.

Hi, all... I'm joining the train of people who've come here to say that thinking back, they don't like the person they were when they were friends-friendly with him.

I know that I did and said horrible things. Leaving all and any manipulation aside, I still said those things, and I know I hurt people. I wish I could take it all back, but I can't. The only thing I could do was apologise and hope we can move forward, and in my case, learned and never forget this lesson.

I admire anyone who's found the way to forgive him, move on, and get past this. I find it really difficult still. Friendships, all over the place, mine and other people's, suffered from this, and to me, that's what hurts the most.

Anyway, it is what it is.

Monica wrote: "There are screenshots of pretty much everything he’s trying to deny and even then, he won’t admit it. Like Daniela said he’ll keep lying even in face of overwhelming evidence. Lying and deflecting ..."

You are a truth sayer. All of this. Every word. He is rotten to his core.

The $2000 was for a house warming gift. But here's how that worked. He went into his fan group and talked about how hard it was buying a house on your own. How depressing it was that his family didn't care and didn't support him. How he didn't have any real friends in Texas. (plus you know, health problems and a super stressful job and Texas is terrible cuz he's so stressed from being back in the closet). So the fan group, made up of a bunch of nice people, said "Hey, lets do a collection and send him a gift to help out." It was about $2000 in pay pal donations plus gift cards. One of his coauthors was a part of this, wrote posts about how hard he worked and how much he could use this. She helped get it set up. (draw your own conclusions with that bit of info) Legal documents such as tax deeds show that he bought the house with the woman who is allegedly his wife. So......not alone, not by himself. A lot of people in that group would not have sent those gifts had they have known the truth. I was in that group so I speak from first hand experience. I sent $10 bucks. It's not much but I only sent it because I didn't have much family support in my life when I was first starting out and I felt bad for him. See......this is how the manipulation works. You hint and overshare and tell your woes. Nice people do nice things and viola, you're two grand richer.

So proud of everyone sharing their stories. I am heartbroken to hear what many of you have been through. I must admit, that when these allegations first came to my attention, while I felt there was something definitely not right with SH, I thought it sounded to far fetched. My Mum passed away from cancer 15 months ago, and that forced me to take a good look at a few things in my life. The obvious discrepancies in his life became so clear then. The fake cancer was my final straw. I defended SH for a long time believed him about people I called friends. I'm ashamed of myself for this. This is my apology to all those I let down. I am so sorry. You are all amazing, strong people.

Reading all these comments, and seeing just how many people were deceived, I lack the vocabulary to express how angry/ sad/ proud I am. Having been told how awful people were by SH and believing it, I can only echo that to a degree we all mimicked how SH behaved the meanness and lies to;d about pthers and ourselves was what made us speak out on the blog.
Lying about your health and getting money for it is despicable.

I think he might have counted on many of us never being in touch again and never ever comparing notes. He most certainly was vocal in his unhappiness when Susan and T and I met here; I bet he didn’t count on some of us forming honest to Gods lifelong friendships, and I bet he sure didn’t count on some of us ever being talking again like this. And yet here we all are.

Alisa wrote: "The $2000 was for a house warming gift. But here's how that worked. He went into his fan group and talked about how hard it was buying a house on your own. How depressing it was that his family did..."

I was in that group too and it´s true that it was a house warming gift, but it´s true too that they posted and posted about the problems they had with family, job, health. I didn´t give an euro because I thought at that time that I needed more my money that one person who bought a big house in Texas, a lot of people can´t buy houses, you know? Everything encouraged by his co-author.
I saw yesterday how he said that he hadn´t said things that I´ve read myself, whith my own eyes, nobody told me.
I can´t say in their face but I know they are reading this, so SH and all of them supporting this: you have no shame, really, you have no shame.

Hi, Susan. Thank you for sharing with us! Personally the only thing that I usually care about is to read good books, I do not care about the private life of the authors. But I find this terribly wrong and totally disturbing.

This is going to be a bit long, and, though I read in English its not my first language so I apologize in advance for any mistakes.

We are all shocked, hurt, angry etc' about SH and "his" "friends" for the lies and the money that was donated, and rightly so because it's illegal or bordering on illegal.
But we should also STRONGLY address the issue of the bulling because the bulling might not YET be illegal, but its a plague!
I stumbled upon it here on GR, in our genre WAY too many times in my few years here, and I'm talking about the kind of bulling that makes good and honest ppl stop being active on social media at best, traumatized, depressed and even self-harming at worse.
You can, mostly, protect yourself from the illegal stuff by distancing yourself from situations but the bulling? not so easy because it usually comes to you.

I had no earlier knowledge about SH, apart from reading ICOS, loving it and giving them all 5 stars (maybe 4 for the first one, don't remember, its deleted)

My encounter with SH and his gang was about 18 months ago when I wrote a review for his #2 book of the Five Boroughs series.
After loving the first one in the series and 5 staring it, the second one did not work for me and I explained why I found something in it offensive TO ME, with quotes to show where my problem was.
Again: My opinion, My feelings, IN MY REVIEW.
My review got the usual amount of likes I used to get and that was it.
Or so I thought.
Well, someone wrote to SH about it (the person who wrote to SH was my friend, and told me they wrote to him. They also told me that the reason they wrote to him (on FB) is because they wanted him to explain "himself" to me. HAHAHA, This "friend" was a new author, who just published her first M/M romance, and wanted to su8ck up to a well-connected-author on my expense, but thats another story, just wanted to say that I *know* how SH was now aware of my review).
Well, about an hour later, ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE!
I was starting to get comments of the worse kind. I was trashed, humiliated, and cursed.
I started by answering and defending MY point, but it was soon obvious that they are all just an army of fans and friends blindly defending their "one and only".
When it quickly spiraled SO low, I had to edit my profile so only friends could comment, and not too long after that, I had to just delete my review altogether.
I hoped and prayed it was the end of it.
Not so lucky!
Someone opened a thread about it and ME.
I was so hurt, shocked and scared and thanks to some good friends I had here (I'll come back to the "had" later on), I felt tiny bit better because they went to the thread and tried to defend me and my right for my thoughts, feelings and review, but my 4-5 courages friends (and they SO ARE, because of the obvious) where just fighting a lost "war".
I begged them to leave it because I did not want them to get hurt and because I wanted this whole fiasco to JUST END!

I tried not to go to the thread, but, I wasn't that strong, and thats when I saw this WELL known author come to "join the party" (this author wasn't the only one, but was the loudest and cruelest).
This WELL KNOWN author, who ALWAYS have something to say, (on very rare occasion, a nice thing), an author that when someone DARE to contradict HIM, his first answer is: "This is My opinion so Fu&k off", or "don't tell me what to think" "don't tell me what to feel" "don't argue with me before you stand in my shoes" "the review space is for PERSONAL thoughts" etc'.
This author was saying that what I wrote in my review is BS, (after name calling and some personal jokes on my expense), because THEY PERSONALY know SH, and he is "absolutely don't deserve this review!" This author who LOVE drama and word-fights (and GOD this author is good with words! nasty and demeaning ones especially).
We all know how "personal" ppl knew SH NOW, but all was fair then.

At this point I blocked some authors and other GR members. I did not want to delete my account because this was my only way to keep track of my reading history and finding good books, but I no longer felt safe here and took 10 steps back and stopped reviewing and chatting even with my, then, good friends and slowly was only here to find good books.

I slowly returned to GR because of my love for books, but my trauma pushed me away from the genre (not altogether I admit), made me think 50 times before any word I ever write here (this post will probably cost me a couple of sleepless nights and some heartbeats), and it made me distance myself from some good friends I had here.
I'll probably never return to be as active as I used to be, and that is perfectly fine by me, because my character is not build up for harsh social media, and social media can be SO harsh!
I "survived" my experience with the bulling. maybe because it was relatively mild (it did not feel mild at the time), maybe because I'm stronger then I felt, maybe because I am older with family and was able to put it all, eventually in perspective.
BUT, and here is me, begging EVERYONE, and especially the strong ones of us, PLEASE STOP THE BULLING!
PLEASE! it will not end well! we might find ourselves in a very horrific reality one day and we do not want to look back and ask ourselves Why didn't we stop it!?

Thank you all for coming out and talking, especially Nikki, Susan and all the other brave ones who fought to bring this out.
I hope Ill be half as brave and won't delete this post in an hour :)

Let's read book and be nice!

Please don't delete it Alona. We need posts like this to make people aware that it's not just rumors or 'bashing an author'. This is real.

*hugs to you*

Alona wrote: "This is going to be a bit long, and, though I read in English its not my first language so I apologize in advance for any mistakes.

We are all shocked, hurt, angry etc' about SH and "his" "friends..."
Alona, I am so sorry you went through that. :( My god. If you have proof of this, you could always send it to the author's publishers. I mean this is way beyond unprofessional. I agree with you, though. Bullying can hurt, even kill. These people have no remorse for their selfish behavior. This has to stop. Santino has to be stopped before his clan hurts others.
Please don't remove it. You did a good thing, and people need to see it. Proud of you.

Alona wrote: "This is going to be a bit long, and, though I read in English its not my first language so I apologize in advance for any mistakes.

We are all shocked, hurt, angry etc' about SH and "his" "friends..."

I'm so sorry, Alina... And I can say I've seen this behaviour by his fans and this author friends in Twitter. They did it with other people and they did it with me too, not as much as with you, but they did it, because they didn't like some of my opinions. Unluckily for them, I didn't care at all.

Alona wrote: "This is going to be a bit long, and, though I read in English its not my first language so I apologize in advance for any mistakes.

We are all shocked, hurt, angry etc' about SH and "his" "friends..."

Alona, thank you for sharing your personal experience: it takes courage and determination to do so.
The bullying, the gas lighting, the name calling and the censorship, the ghosting and discounting of issues: they all chip at our self confidence and sanity.
We have your back.

So, while so many people affected by the situation are bravely sharing their experience in the most calm of manners and politely: Megan Ericsson is actively advising her sycophants to report this thread and get it taken down.
Let me say that again: a writer, in a position of power is advising censorship of victims of possible fraud and relentless bullying and emotional manipulation. Well if that doesn't give me even more motivation to get and fight this good fight!

Francesca wrote: "So, while so many people affected by the situation are bravely sharing their experience in the most calm of manners and politely: Megan Ericsson is actively advising her sycophants to report this t..."

Damn right,

I just emailed Riptide and asked for a refund on my pre-order for the final two Five Boroughs novels so let's see what they do with that:

I would like to have this order refunded please. Given the amount of information which is now becoming public regarding this author and their unethical practices which I find not only compelling but impossible to ignore, I do not wish to support them by purchasing their books.

Francesca wrote: "So, while so many people affected by the situation are bravely sharing their experience in the most calm of manners and politely: Megan Ericsson is actively advising her sycophants to report this t..."

This!

Megan is absolutely doing this. I love Cadiva’s comment to Riptide. This is a must. I don’t read these authors nor was I a part of the Patreon but more need to report this behavior. If you or anyone you know is or was a supporter on Patreon for this person, you have the right to anon report his account for for fraud. Patreon is legally bound to investigate. they can see ALL posts and prjects and peldges, and the original wordings for such, and therefore can determine what is going on. Depending on what they find, Patreon must then report it to the FBI or the police.

Francesca wrote: ": Megan Ericsson is actively advising her sycophants to report this thread and get it taken down. ."

Doesn't matter, it's been archived at internet archive.org..

I really hope that this opens up a broader conversation about bullying and how we all fall victim to the mentality of us against them. It's a lesson that comes, for me, with introspection. I've been trying to become a better person, before I met Sh and, now I find I still have a ways to go.

The biggest problem I see right now, is that if we don't keep this story active, if we let it die with us, he will continue to defraud people and bully people. That is the only reason I suggest keeping the discussion going, keep spreading the word.

Marbles wrote: "No, of course they don't. If whoever the author is gave them legal information for John Doe, that's who they'd pay. To say that any of the publishers who signed SH have gone along with this is ludicrous. And you can't expect them to comment on social media hysteria until they have concrete proof one way or the other."

Have you been reading this thread? 90% of this thread is not about SH not being male, it's about how he bullied people, ostracized people, encouraged others to ostracize people, and told people he had cancer, among other lies, to get money from people. This isn't about gender.

And the community is advocating boycott because more authors are trying to silence people and his publishers are saying nothing.

Again, lied about cancer, lied about two kids.

I want to say one other thing. I don't know if the facts are true, I only know what's been said to me.

At one point in our conversation, and with others, SH told me that an author(and a big voice) in our community was purposefully infecting teenagers with HIV. I have screenshots of this. I have a chat archive that I've archived with google. And it was said in a group chat, too, iirc. As I've been rereading my messages, and in light of the other lies within, I have to ask myself if that rumor was true.

Dani wrote: "Francesca wrote: ": Megan Ericsson is actively advising her sycophants to report this thread and get it taken down. ."

Doesn't matter, it's been archived at internet archive.org..

I really hope t..."

I am glad it has been archived Dani!
And I agree it is critical to keep the conversation open: I do wish that at least something constructive comes out of all the shared pain.

If you aren't comfortable with focusing your attention on Riptide, focus your attention on Sarah Lyons. As someone who once had a personal relationship with her, I know firsthand that she's basically obsessed with SH and in lust with "him." She's had a number of personal conversations that attempted to deepen their relationship. I'm not sure how successful she was, but she has access to information that can make a difference in this, and she's either refusing to look at it or willfully covering. I lean toward the latter, but my opinion of her is deeply biased in the negative for other reasons pertaining to scarring experiences with her, so I may be skewed there.

Rather than boycott all of Riptide, boycott the Riptide authors who have participated in this with gaslighting, bullying, and silencing. You can hit Riptide--and Sarah in particular--in the wallet without hurting authors who aren't involved. A selective boycott can be just as effective by showing them exactly who is hurting their revenue stream.

When a publisher wants to be professional has to make an statement when something so important happens with one of their authors. It's absolutely unprofessional being quiet or blocking people when they ask.

Marbles wrote: "I'm not arguing that SH isn't trash. Just that the publishers have many many authors who stand to suffer if readers boycott en masse for something that isn't their fault.
"

It does smack of a problem, I agree. I think many people are targeting SH's books, though. I am not sure how I feel about the publishers. But there has to be a pressure point on publishers. Maybe a more targeted boycott would work. I don't know. I certainly won't fault anyone for a straight up boycott, though.

Marbles wrote: "That's my prerogative."

It absolutely is. <3 My point was not to challenge you as harshly. Rereading my comment, it probably came off as aggressive. That wasn't my intention.

Marbles wrote: "And how on earth would you know that she tried to "deepen" her relationship with SH? As far as I'm aware, she's in a relationship with a woman and is about to get married. What actual evidence do you have?"

I have evidence from text messages with her and conversations with SH. Some of those, I will be posting on my main account later as part of a separate issue. I'm just working to make sure the post is legally airtight, and that takes time and multiple vettings.

(also fyi Sarah is poly so she's not limited to one partner; using her current relationship doesn't really discredit attempts to hook up with others)

Marbles wrote: "Going after Riptide is unfair. They have a stable of hundreds of authors and 95% of them won't know anything about this, and have no connection to Santino Hassell. Also, publishers rarely meet thei..."

Actually a certain amount of accountability from the commercial outfits behind SH would be rather welcome.
As readers we are in a position of unbalance when dealing with authors and their commercial outfits and our one true power is in fact to stop purchasing these authors' content.
I find it somewhat of poor taste to comment about the financial standing of a commercial outfit in a open and raw discussion amongst people who have been directly impacted by this and those who are supporting them.
I don't recall any of us calling for a boycot of Riptide but I certainly support Riptide to come out and make a statement: they surely use Social Media quite often for their communication.
(not interested in starting a debate on this as this thread is not the place but Aleks Voinov did not ever call for a boycott of his former publisher so please check your facts prior to statements like this.) Many of us have been vilified, ghosted, gaslighted and purposefully isolated by SH and his cohorts: we need to be able to voice our hurt in a safe space: Riptide's commercial well being is not our concern especially not here.

So I have a qu? From what I have been reading these s”rumors “ have been circulating for over a year. If none of its true why hasn’t he sued anyone for deformation of character? Because everything that’s out there is pretty damaging. I heard there re branding what does that mean ??

Marbles wrote: "Oh wow. Text messages between you and her, and then messages between you and SH?

That's explosive, man. And really would change things. "

Exactly. But it has to be done right so that it's legally ironclad. I don't want to rush this and screw it up.

Marbles wrote: "Going after Riptide is unfair. They have a stable of hundreds of authors and 95% of them won't know anything about this, and have no connection to Santino Hassell. Also, publishers rarely meet thei..."

I have no wish to financially support this author, therefore I want my pre-order cancelled and my money returning, that's as far as my Riptide involvement goes.

This is so sad... all of it. I didn't know anything about this but I feel mostly sad about the people who don't lie, because there aren't any left. Especially people who gain on other people's feelings. It's not about the money, it should be, but it's not). The most disturbing thing of the whole scam is that a respectful author like Santino Hassell lied about having cancer. I also have a member of my family who died from cancer last year and the illness made two children live without their mother... It's wrong to lie about that, it's just awful. I was a fan of this author because he has talent and I can't believe he used lies instead of his talent to become famous. Thank you for sharing all this information, Susan! People like that don't deserve anything...

Francesca wrote: "Marbles wrote: "Going after Riptide is unfair. They have a stable of hundreds of authors and 95% of them won't know anything about this, and have no connection to Santino Hassell. Also, publishers ..."

Agreed, lets not get side tracked from the main event this is about how SH treated people the consequences of his actions. Want to talk about Riptide make a thread elsewhere ?

http://archive.is/ can be used for archiving these pages before they're deleted. Archiving/caching is good because they're timestamped. (Some people are quick to claim that screencaps can be photoshopped, so archiving/caching with the original URLs prove that they're real.)

Marbles wrote: "Alona wrote: "This is going to be a bit long, and, though I read in English its not my first language so I apologize in advance for any mistakes.

We are all shocked, hurt, angry etc' about SH and ..."

Now I'm glad that I never made a real review of that book (or book 4) because I hated those two characters and was very vocal about it. I did get called out a few times in his readers' group tho.

It sucks that this happened but the thing is, Alona is right.
This community needs to stop the hate if someone disagrees with you or don't like what you like.


I'm honestly so shocked reading most of these comments. Like Dani's, because people are not guessing, they actually had conversations and bonds with this individual. I am disgusted and so disappointed.

Marbles wrote: "Going after Riptide is unfair. They have a stable of hundreds of authors and 95% of them won't know anything about this, and have no connection to Santino Hassell. Also, publishers rarely meet thei..."

I agree that going after Riptide hurts other Riptide authors who had nothing to do with this. Perhaps a concerted effort should be made to specifically boycott Santino's books at Riptide, but only SH's books.

As other people have suggested, you can pull your pre-orders, you can choose not to purchase the new Five Burroughs books from their site and you can remove your reviews on GR and Amazon, as I have done of his previous titles.

None of this hurts other Riptide authors, but it does put a dent in SH's bottom line. There should be consequences to his/her/their actions for bullying and gaslighting people in our genre.

I know I'm trying to do my part by talking to other reviewers who currently have an ARC of Bishop's Move and asking them to return it and not to post a review.

Personally, I have friends who are authors at Riptide and they are appalled by Santino's behavior. So much so they're considering when their contracts are up not renewing their books with Riptide. But that is solely a decision each author has to deal with personally.

Alona wrote: "This is going to be a bit long, and, though I read in English its not my first language so I apologize in advance for any mistakes.

We are all shocked, hurt, angry etc' about SH and "his" "friends..."

Alona, I consider myself a pretty strong person. Too opinionated to buckle easily under peer pressure. However, your post just scared the shit outta me.

Thank you for sharing!

Cadiva wrote: "I just emailed Riptide and asked for a refund on my pre-order for the final two Five Boroughs novels so let's see what they do with that:

I would like to have this order refunded please. Given the..."

Good for you!

Marbles wrote: "Dani wrote: "Marbles wrote: "No, of course they don't. If whoever the author is gave them legal information for John Doe, that's who they'd pay. To say that any of the publishers who signed SH have..."

But to that point, the publisher should take a stand for the respect of those other authors! And not support and hide only the one because he's a big seller. There's the problem. Loyalty stands in profits, and that is a shame. The publisher needs to do something about this.

Fact is, Santino isn't going to go down without a fight. He's going to drag every one down with him. It's a sick game, and proves his respect for the community he writes for. Which if anyone remembers him saying he'd never write queer romance but then he saw $$$$ and played into it. It's all about the money for him